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1944
Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. Events Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January during Operation Shingle, late January 1944.]] * January 2 – WWII: Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in North Africa. * January 4 – WWII: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. * January 5 – The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper. * January 8 – WWII: Philippine Commonwealth troops enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces. * January 11 – US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security in his State of the Union address * January 11 – Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp established. * January 12 – Winston Churchill and Charles De Gaulle begin a 2-day wartime conference in Marrakech. * January 14 – WWII: Soviet troops start the offensive at Leningrad and Novgorod. * January 15 ** WWII: The 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division is re-created, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army. ** An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina, killing an estimated 10,000 people in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history. * January 17 – WWII: ** British forces in Italy cross the Garigliano River. ** Meat rationing ends in Australia. ** The Soviet Union ceases production of the Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 sniper rifle. * January 20 – WWII: ** The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin. ** The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Rapido River. * January 22 – WWII – Operation Shingle: The Allies begin the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division stands their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months. * January 27 – WWII: The 2-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted. * January 29 – WWII: The Battle of Cisterna takes place. * January 29 – WWII: HMS Spartan (95)is sunk by a Henschel Hs 293 from a German aircraft off Anzio, western Italy. * January 30 – WWII: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands. * January 31 – WWII: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. February in ruins after being destroyed by Allied bombing, February 1944.]] , February 11, 1944]] * February 1 – WWII: United States troops land in the Marshall Islands. * February 2 – The first issue of Human Events is published. * February 3 – WWII: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands. * February 7 – WWII: In Anzio, Italian forces launch a counteroffensive. * February 14 – WWII: ** SHAEF headquarters is established in Britain by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. ** An anti-Japanese revolt breaks out on Java. * February 15 – WWII – Battle of Monte Cassino: The monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing. * February 17 – WWII: The Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; it ends in an American victory on February 22. * February 20 – WWII: ** The "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers. ** The United States takes Eniwetok Island. * February 22 – United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe organized from the Eighth Air Force's strategic planning staff; subsuming strategic planning for all US Army Air Forces in Europe and Africa. * February 23 – WWII: The Chechens and Ingush are forcibly deported to Central Asia. * February 26 – Shooting begins on the Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuehrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in Theresienstadt. * February 26 – first US navy captain, Sue S. Dauser of nurse corps appointed. * February 29 – WWII – Battle of Los Negros and Operation Brewer: The Admiralty Islands are invaded by U.S. forces. March .]] * March ** WWII: The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south China. ** Austrian-born economist Friedrich Hayek publishes his book The Road to Serfdom (in London). * March 1 – WWII: ** The USS Tarawa and USS Kearsarge are laid down. ** An anti-fascist strike begins in northern Italy. * March 2 ** WWII: A train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside Salerno, Italy; 521 choke to death. ** The 16th Academy Awards ceremony is held. * March 3 – WWII: The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov are instituted in the USSR. * March 4 – In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing, along with Emanuel Weiss, and Louis Capone. * March 6 – WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Narva, Estonia, destroying almost the entire old town. * March 9 – WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia. * March 10 – WWII: In Britain the Education Act lifts the ban on women teachers marrying. * March 11 – Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel. * March 12 – WWII: The Political Committee of National Liberation is created in Greece. * March 15 ** WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino: Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault. ** WWII: The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme. ** In Sweden, the law of 1864 that criminalizes homosexuality is abolished. * March 17 – WWII: The Nazis execute almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-fascist Romanians at Rîbniţa. * March 19 – WWII: German forces occupy Hungary in Operation Margarethe. * March 18 – The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes. * March 20 – WWII: RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade's bomber is hit over Germany, and he has to bail out without a parachute from a height of over 4,000 meters. Tree branches interrupt his fall and he lands safely on deep snow. * March 23 – WWII: Members of the Italian Resistance attack Nazis marching in Via Rasella, killing 33. * March 24 – WWII: ** Fosse Ardeatine massacre: 335 Italians are killed, including 75 Jews and over 200 members of the Italian Resistance from various groups, in Rome. ** In the Polish village of Markowa, German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their six children and eight Jews they were hiding. ** The "Great Escape" – 76 Royal Air Force prisoners escape by tunnel "Harry" from Stalag Luft III this night. Only three return to the UK; of those recaptured, fifty are executed. April * April 2 &ndash: WWII: Ascq massacre members of the 2th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend shoot 85 people. When a train approaches the Gare d'Ascq railyway station the railway line is blown apart. * April 4 – WWII: An allied Surveillance aircraft photographs part of Auschwitz concentration camp. * April 5 – Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escape from Auschwitz-Birkenhau. * April 25 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated. * April 26 – Kidnap of General Kreipe on Crete, Greece. * April 28 – WWII: 749 American troops are killed in Exercise Tiger at Start Bay, Devon, England. May , 1 May 1944.]] * May – No Exit published by Jean-Paul Sartre. * May 5 – WWII: Mohandas Gandhi is released in India. * May 9 – WWII: In the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, Soviet troops completely drive out German forces, who had been ordered by Hitler to “fight to the last man.”"Year by Year 1944" – History Channel International * May 12 – WWII: Soviet troops finalize the liberation of the Crimea. * May 18 – WWII: ** Battle of Monte Cassino: The Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives. ** The Crimean Tatars are deported by the Soviet Union. * May 24 – WWII: Six LSTs are accidentally destroyed and 163 men killed in Pearl Harbor's West Loch Disaster. * May 30 – Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi of Monaco, heir to the throne, resigns from her rights in favor of her son Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, later reigning Prince Rainier III of Monaco. * May 31 – WWII: [[USS England (DE-635)|Destroyer escort England]] sinks the 6th Japanese submarine in two weeks. This anti-submarine warfare performance remained unmatched through the twentieth century. June .]] heading for shore on 15 June 1944 during the Battle of Saipan.]] * June – German V-2 rockets on test from Peenemünde become the first man-made objects to enter space. * June 1 – WWII: The BBC transmits a coded message (the first line of the poem "Chanson d'automne" by Paul Verlaine) to the French Resistance, warning that the invasion of Europe is imminent. * June 2 – WWII: The provisional French government is established. * June 4 – WWII: ** A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the , marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel has captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century. ** Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall. * June 5 – WWII: ** More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day. ** At 10:15 p.m. local time, the BBC transmits the second line of the Paul Verlaine poem to the French Resistance, indicating that the invasion of Europe is about to begin. ** The German navy's Enigma messages are decoded almost in real time. ** US and British paratrooper divisions jump over Normandy, in preparation for D-Day. All including 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions of the United States. * June 6 – WWII – Battle of Normandy: Operation Overlord, commonly known as D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland, in the largest amphibious military operation in history. This operation helps liberate France from Germany, and also weakens the Nazi hold on Europe. * June 7 – WWII: ** The steamer Danae ( ) carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretans on the first leg of their way to Auschwitz was sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini. ** Bayeux is liberated by British troops. * June 9 – WWII: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin launches the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against Finland, with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin. * June 10 – WWII: 642 men, women and children are killed in the Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre in France. * June 13 – WWII: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. * June 15 – WWII: ** Battle of Saipan: The United States invades Saipan. * June 17 – Iceland declares full independence from Denmark. * June 19 – A severe storm badly damages the Mulberry harbours on the Normandy coast. * June 22 – WWII: ** Operation Bagration: A general attack by Soviet forces clears the German forces from Belarus, resulting in the destruction of German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII. ** Burma Campaign: The Battle of Kohima ends in a British victory. * June 25 – WWII: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala (the largest battle ever in the Nordic countries) begins between Finnish and Soviet troops. Finland is able to resist the attack and thus manages to stay as an independent nation. * June 26 – WWII: American troops enter Cherbourg. * June 29 – The Holocaust – The deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps begins. July to kill Hitler.]] * July 1 – The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference begins at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. * July 3 – WWII: ** Soviet troops liberate Minsk. ** Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle in a British victory. * July 6 ** Hartford circus fire: More than 100 children die in one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States. ** WWII: At Camp Hood, Texas, future baseball star and 1st Lt. Jackie Robinson is arrested and later court-martialed for refusing to move to the back of a segregated U.S. Army bus. He is eventually acquitted. * July 9 – WWII: British and Canadian forces capture Caen. * July 10 – WWII: Soviet troops begin operations to occupy the Baltic countries. * July 12 – Laurence Olivier's film Henry V, based on Shakespeare's play, opens in London. It is the most acclaimed and the most successful movie version of a Shakespeare play made up to that time, and the first in Technicolor. Olivier both stars and directs, as Kenneth Branagh was to do over forty years later in his successful remake. * July 13 – WWII: Vilnius is occupied by USSR. * July 16 – WWII: The first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force arrives in Italy. * July 17 – WWII: ** The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection. ** The [[SS E. A. Bryan|SS E. A. Bryan]], loaded with ammunition, explodes at the Port Chicago naval base; 320 are killed. * July 18 – WWII: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort. ** American forces push back the Germans in St. Lo, capturing the city. ** British forces launch Operation Goodwood, an armoured offensive aimed at driving the Germans from the high ground to the south of Caen. The offensive ends 2 days later with only minimal gains. * July 20 – WWII: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt by Claus von Stauffenberg. * July 21 – WWII: ** Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam (the battle ends August 10). ** The Polish Committee of National Liberation is created. * July 22 **The Bretton Woods Conference ends with various agreements signed. **''United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara'',56 F. Supp. 716 (N.D. Cal 1944) the only Japanese-American draft resistance case to be dismissed on a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution. * July 25 – WWII – Operation Spring: One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war results in 1,550 casualties, including 450 killed. * July 26 – WWII: A Messerschmitt Me 262 becomes the first jet fighter aircraft to have an operational victory. August Scouts also fought in the Warsaw Uprising.]] liberated by Polish soldiers from Batalion Zośka, 5 August 1944]] , 26 August 1944.]] * August 1 – WWII: The Warsaw Uprising begins. * August 2 – WWII: ** Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany. ** The First Assembly of ASNOM is held in the Prohor Pchinski monastery. * August 4 – The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family. * August 5 ** The Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners. ** WWII: Over 500 Japanese prisoners-of-war attempt a mass breakout from the Cowra POW Camp. * August 7 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I). * August 9 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time. * August 12 – WWII: ** The Allies capture Florence, Italy. ** Operation Pluto: The world's first undersea oil pipeline is laid between England and France. * August 15 – WWII: Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap. * August 18 – WWII: Submarine ''Rasher'' sinks Teia Maru, Eishin Maru, Teiyu Maru, and carrier from Japanese convoy HI71 in one of the most effective American "wolfpack" attacks of the war. * August 19 – WWII: An insurrection starts in Paris. * August 20 – WWII: ** American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap. ** 168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused of being "terror fliers" by the Gestapo, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp. * August 22 – WWII: Tsushima Maru, a Japanese unmarked passenger/cargo ship, is sunk by torpedoes launched by the submarine USS Bowfin off Akuseki-jima, killing 1,484 civilians including 767 schoolchildren. * August 23 – WWII: Ion Antonescu, prime minister of Romania, is arrested and a new government established. Romania exits the war against Soviet Union, joining the Allies. * August 24 – WWII: ** Liberation of Paris: The Allies enter Paris, successfully completing Operation Overlord. ** Japanese attack the [[USS Harder|USS Harder]] * August 25 – WWII: ** German surrender of Paris: General Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders Paris to the Allies in defiance of Hitler’s orders to destroy it. ** Maillé massacre: Massacre of 129 civilians (70% women and children) by the Gestapo at Maillé, Indre-et-Loire. ** Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany. * August 29 – WWII: The Slovak National Uprising against the Axis powers begins. * August 31 – The Mad Gasser of Mattoon resumes his mysterious attacks in Mattoon, Illinois. September in September 1944.]] * September 1 – WWII: In Bulgaria, the Bagryanov government resigns. * September 2 ** The Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, arriving 3 days later. ** ¡Hola! magazine launched in Barcelona. * September 3 – WWII: The Allies liberate Brussels. * September 4 – WWII: ** The British 11th Armored Division liberates the city of Antwerp in Belgium. ** Finland breaks off relations with Germany. * September 5 – WWII: The Soviets declare war on Bulgaria. * September 7 – WWII: The Belgian government in exile returns to Brussels from London. * September 8 – WWII: ** London is hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time. ** The French town of Menton is liberated from Germany. * September 9 – WWII: An insurrection breaks out in Sofia. * September 12 – WWII: Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon. * September 14 – The Great Atlantic Hurricane makes landfall in the New York City area * September 15 – WWII: The Battle of Peleliu begins. * September 17 – WWII: Operation Market Garden begins. * September 19 – WWII: An armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union is signed, ending the Continuation War. * September 20 – WWII: Jüri Uluots, prime minister in capacity of president of Estonia, escapes to Sweden; 2 days later, Tallinn is taken by the Red Army. * September 24 – WWII: The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Epinal before crossing the Moselle River and entering the western foothills of the Vosges. * September 26 – WWII: ** Operation Market Garden ends in an Allied withdrawal. ** On the middle front of the Gothic Line, Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after 10 days of fighting. * September – Start of Dutch famine ("Hongerwinter") in the occupied northern part of the Netherlands. October afire, east of Luzon, 24 October 1944.]] were founded in October 1944.]] , 20 October 1944.]] * October 2 – Holocaust: Nazi troops end the Warsaw Uprising. * October 5 – WWII: Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over Holland. * October 6 – WWII: The Battle of Debrecen starts on the Eastern Front (it lasts until October 29). * October 8 – The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show debuts in the United States. * October 9 – WWII: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a 9-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe. * October 10 – The Holocaust/Porajmos: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at the Auschwitz death camp. * October 12 – WWII: The Allies land in Athens. * October 13 – WWII: Riga, the capital of Latvia, is taken by the Red Army. * October 14 – WWII: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler. * October 18 – WWII: The Volkssturm is founded on Hitler's orders. * October 20 – WWII: ** Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army. ** American forces land in Red Beach in Palo, Leyte as General Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines with Philippine Commonwealth president Sergio Osmeña, and Armed Forces of the Philippines Generals Basilio J. Valdes and Carlos P. Romulo. ** United States and Filipino troops with Filipino guerrillas begin the Battle of Leyte. ** American forces land on the beaches in Dulag, Leyte, the Philippines, accompanied by Filipino troops entering the town, and fiercely opposed by the Japanese occupation forces. ** The combined American and Filipino soldiers was liberated in Tacloban, Leyte was fought the Japanese Imperial forces. * October 20 – LNG explosion destroys a square mile (2.6 km²) of Cleveland, Ohio. * October 21 – WWII: Aachen, the first German city to fall, is captured by American troops. * October 23 – WWII: The Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins (lasts until October 26). * October 25 ** WWII: Medal of Honor winning submarine ace Richard O'Kane becomes a prisoner of war when ''Tang'' is sunk in the Formosa Strait. ** Florence Foster Jenkins gives a recital in Carnegie Hall. ** WWII: The Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated. * October 30 ** The Holocaust: Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. ** Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Martha Graham with music by Aaron Copland, debuts at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in the lead role. * October 31 – Mass murderer Marcel Petiot is apprehended in Paris Métro station. November * November 1–December 7 – Delegates of 52 nations meet at the International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago to plan for postwar international cooperation, framing the constitution of the International Civil Aviation Organization. * November 3 – WWII: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces. * November 7 – U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey, becoming the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term. * November 7 – A passenger train derails in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, due to excessive speed on a declining hill; 16 are killed, 50 injured. * November 10 – WWII: Ammunition ship [[USS Mount Hood (AE-11)|USS Mount Hood]] disintegrates from accidental detonation of 3800 tons of cargo in the Seeadler Harbor fleet anchorage at Manus Island. Twenty-two small boats are destroyed, 36 nearby ships damaged, 432 men are killed and 371 more are injured. * November 22 – William Mackenzie King introduces conscription in Canada (see Conscription Crisis of 1944). * November 27 – RAF Fauld explosion: Between 3,450 and 3,930 tons (3,500 and 4,000 tonnes) of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire, England, leaving about 75 dead and a crater 120 metres (400 ft) deep and 1,200 metres (0.75 miles) across. The blast is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest on UK soil. * November 29 – WWII: Submarine [[USS Archer-Fish (SS-311)|USS Archer-Fish]] sinks Japanese aircraft carrier . Shinano is the largest carrier built to this date, and will remain through the twentieth century the largest ship sunk by a submarine. December .]] becomes the first Five-Star General on December 16, 1944.]] * December 3 – WWII: Fighting breaks out between Communists and royalists in newly liberated Greece, eventually leading to a full-scale Greek Civil War. * December 7 – Chicago Convention signed to create the ICAO. * December 10 – Legendary Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini leads a concert performance of the first half of Beethoven's Fidelio (minus its spoken dialogue) on NBC Radio, starring Rose Bampton. He chooses this opera for its political message – a statement against tyranny and dictatorship. Conducting it in German, Toscanini intends it as a tribute to the German people who are being oppressed by Hitler. The second half is broadcast a week later. The performance is later released on LP and CD, the first of 7 operas that Toscanini conducts on radio. * December 12–December 13 – WWII: British units attempt to take the hilltop town of Tossignano, but are repulsed. * December 13 – Battle of Mindoro: United States, Australian and Philippine Commonwealth troops land in Mindoro Island, the Philippines. * December 14 ** The Soviet government changes Turkish place names to Russian in the Crimea. ** US release of the film National Velvet which brings a young Elizabeth Taylor to stardom. * December 15 – A private airplane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the English Channel while flying to Paris. * December 16 – WWII: ** Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later known as Battle of the Bulge. ** General George C. Marshall becomes the first Five-Star General. * December 17 – WWII: German troops carry out the Malmedy massacre. * December 19 – The entire territory of Estonia is taken by the Red Army. * December 20 – WASPs are disbanded. * December 22 – WWII: Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander of the U.S. forces defending Bastogne, refuses to accept demands for surrender by sending a one-word reply, "Nuts!", to the German command. ** The Vietnam People's Army is formed in Vietnam. * December 24 ** WWII: The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles. ** WWII: Troopship ''Leopoldville'' is sunk in the English Channel by German submarine U-486. The ship was carrying reinforcements to the battle of the bulge and 763 soldiers of the 66th Infantry Division (United States) drown. ** The first complete U.S. production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is presented in San Francisco, choreographed by William Christensen. It will become an annual tradition there, and for the next ten years, the San Francisco Ballet will be the only ballet company in the United States performing the complete work, until George Balanchine premieres his version in New York in 1954. * December 26 ** WWII: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne. ** The original stage version of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams premieres on Broadway. * December 30 – WWII: ** Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, filling the seat left by Cordell Hull. ** King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant. * December 31 ** WWII: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany. ** WWII: Battle of Leyte: Tens of thousands of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers are killed in action, in a significant Filipino and Allied military victory. Date unknown became the first person to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage in 1944.]] * The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London (together with the February Winter Olympics scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy), are suspended due to WWII. * Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren publishes her first book, Pippi Longstocking. * In Sweden, Erik Wallenberg and Ruben Rausing invent a way to package milk in paper and start the company Tetra Pak. * Hans Asperger publishes his paper on Asperger syndrome. * The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is established in the United States. * Canadian Arctic explorer Henry Larsen becomes the first person to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage in both directions in a schooner. He chronicles the event in his autobiography, The Big Ship.( ) * Last known evidence for the existence of the Asiatic lion in the wild in Iran (Khuzestan Province). Births January * January 1 ** Bob Minor, American actor and stunt performer ** Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of the Sudan * January 2 – Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician * January 3 – Chris von Saltza, American swimmer * January 6 ** Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ** Bonnie Franklin, American actress and television director (One Day at a Time) * January 9 ** Ian Hornak, American painter, draughtsman and sculptor (d. 2002) ** Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin) * January 12 – Joe Frazier, American boxer (d. 2011) * January 17 ** Françoise Hardy, French singer ** Jan Guillou, Swedish author * January 18 – Paul Keating, 24th Prime Minister of Australia * January 19 – Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer * January 23 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor * January 24 – Klaus Nomi, German singer (died 1983) * January 25 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian model and actress * January 26 – Angela Davis, American feminist and activist * January 27 ** Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader ** Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize ** Nick Mason, English rock drummer (Pink Floyd) * January 28 ** John Tavener, British composer ** Susan Howard, American actress * January 29 – Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican judge * January 31 ** Ivo Opstelten, Dutch politician ** Connie Booth, American writer and actress February * February 2 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor * February 3 ** Dave Davies, British rock musician (The Kinks) ** Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress * February 5 – Al Kooper, American rock musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears) * February 9 – Alice Walker, American writer * February 10 – Vernor Vinge, American writer * February 11 – Michael G. Oxley, American politician * February 12 – Moe Bandy, American country music singer * February 13 ** Stockard Channing, American actress ** Jerry Springer, English-born American television host ** Michael Ensign, American actor * February 14 ** Carl Bernstein, American journalist ** Alan Parker, English film director, producer, actor and writer * February 16 ** Richard Ford, American writer ** Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, President of Cape Verde * February 17 – Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer * February 20 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch football player and coach * February 22 ** Jonathan Demme, American film director, producer and writer ** Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player * February 23 – Johnny Winter, American rock musician * February 27 – Ken Grimwood, American writer (d. 2003) * February 28 – Sepp Maier, German footballer * February 29 – Dennis Farina, American actor March * March 1 ** John Breaux, U.S. Senator from Louisiana ** Roger Daltrey, English singer-songwriter and actor (The Who) * March 2 – Uschi Glas, German actress * March 4 ** Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and race car designer (d. 1999) ** Bobby Womack, American singer and songwriter * March 5 – Peter Brandes, Danish artist * March 6 ** Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano ** Mary Wilson, American singer (The Supremes) * March 8 – Buzz Hargrove, Canadian labour leader * March 11 – Don Maclean, English comedian * March 17 – John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter (The Lovin' Spoonful) Pattie Boyd Model and George Harrison's first wife. * March 19 ** Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize ** Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian assassin of Robert F. Kennedy * March 21 – Hilary Minster, English actor (d. 1999) * March 24 – R. Lee Ermey, U.S. Marine and actor * March 26 – Diana Ross, American singer (The Supremes) * March 27 – Khosrow Shakibai, Iranian actor (d. 2008) * March 28 ** Rick Barry, American basketball player ** Ken Howard, American actor * March 29 – Denny McLain, American baseball player April * April 3 – Tony Orlando, American musician * April 4 – Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician * April 5 – Peter T. King, U.S. Representative for New York's 3rd congressional district * April 6 ** Felicity Palmer, English soprano ** Judith McConnell, American actress (Santa Barbara) * April 7 – Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of Germany * April 8 ** Jimmy Walker, American professional basketball player (d. 2007) ** Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian painter * April 11 – John Milius, American film director, producer and screenwriter * April 13 – Jack Casady, American rock musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna) * April 15 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen leader, first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, an unrecognized breakaway state in the North Caucasus (d. 1996) * April 18 – Charlie Tuna, American disc jockey and game show announcer * April 19 – James Heckman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate * April 22 – Steve Fossett, American aviator, sailor and millionaire adventurer (d. 2007) * April 24 – Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer * April 25 – Len Goodman, British ballroom dancer and television personality * April 26 – Larry H. Miller, American sports owner (Utah Jazz) (d. 2009) * April 27 ** Michael Fish, British TV weatherman ** Cuba Gooding, Sr., American singer and actor * April 28 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician * April 29 – Richard Kline, American actor and television director * April 30 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010) May * May 1 – Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician * May 5 – John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor * May 8 – Gary Glitter, English singer * May 9 ** Richie Furay, American musician (Poco, Buffalo Springfield) ** Laurence Owen, American figure skater (d. 1961) * May 10 – Jim Abrahams, American film director * May 12 – Sara Kestelman, English actress * May 13 – Armistead Maupin, American author * May 14 – George Lucas, American film director and producer * May 15 – Gunilla Hutton, Swedish-born American actress and singer * May 20 ** Joe Cocker, English rock singer ** Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer ** Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman * May 21 – Mary Robinson, President of Ireland * May 23 ** John Newcombe, Australian tennis player ** Avraham Oz, Israeli theater professor, translator, and political activist * May 24 – Patti LaBelle, American singer * May 25 – Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director * May 27 – Chris Dodd, American politician * May 28 ** Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City ** Gladys Knight, American singer ** Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress ** Rita MacNeil, Canadian folk singer * May 29 – Helmut Berger, Austrian actor * May 30 – Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000) June * June 1 – Robert Powell, English actor * June 3 – Edith McGuire, American sprinter * June 4 – Michelle Phillips, American singer and actress (The Mamas & the Papas) * June 5 ** Tommie Smith, American athlete ** Colm Wilkinson, Irish singer * June 6 – Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine * June 8 ** Boz Scaggs, American singer and guitarist ** Don Grady, American actor and singer ** Mark Belanger, American baseball player (d. 1998) * June 13 – Ban Ki-moon, South Korean politician and Secretary-General of the United Nations * June 16 – Henri Richelet, French painter * June 17 – Bill Rafferty, American comedian and impressionist * June 24 ** Jeff Beck, English rock musician ** David Mark Berger, American-born Israeli weightlifter, murdered at the Munich Olympics (d. 1972) * June 29 – Gary Busey, American actor * June 30 ** Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist ** Terry Funk, American professional wrestler July * July 3 – Michel Polnareff, French singer * July 8 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor * July 13 – Ernő Rubik, Hungarian inventor * July 14 – Aad Mansveld, Dutch footballer * July 15 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor * July 17 – Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricket captain * July 21 – Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 2002) * July 23 – Alex Buzo, of Sydney, Australian playwright and author (d. 2006) * July 31 ** Geraldine Chaplin, English-American actress ** Robert C. Merton, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate August * August 1 – Yuri Romanenko, Soviet cosmonaut * August 2 – Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005) * August 3 – Jonas Falk, Swedish actor (d. 2010) * August 4 ** William Frankfather, American actor (d. 1998) ** Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian ** Orhan Gencebay, Turkish musician, composer, singer and actor * August 7 – John Glover, American actor * August 8 – Brooke Bundy, American actress * August 9 – Sam Elliott, American actor * August 9 – Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi politician and former Prime Minister. * August 11 – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor * August 12 – Larry Troutman, American musician (d. 1999) * August 13 – Kevin Tighe, American actor * August 15 – Sylvie Vartan, French singer * August 18 – Robert Hitchcock, Australian Sculptor * August 19 – Bodil Malmsten, Swedish writer * August 20 – Linda Clifford, American R&B and dance singer * August 21 ** Peter Weir, Australian film director ** Kari S. Tikka, Finnish Professor of Finance (d. 2006) * August 23 – Saira Banu, Indian actress * August 25 – Christine Chubbuck, American television reporter (d. 1974) * August 26 – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester * August 31 – Jos LeDuc, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999) September * September 1 – Leonard Slatkin, American conductor * September 2 – Gilles Marchal, French musician * September 3 – Tim Donnelly, American actor (Emergency!) * September 6 – Christian Boltanski, French artist * September 7 ** Earl Manigault, American basketball player (d. 1998) ** Bora Milutinovic, Serbian football coach * September 12 ** Leonard Peltier, U.S. Presidential candidate ** Barry White, American singer (d. 2003) * September 13 ** Carol Barnes, British newsreader (d. 2008) ** Jacqueline Bisset, English actress ** Peter Cetera, American singer * September 16 – Betty Kelley, American singer (Martha and the Vandellas) * September 17 – Reinhold Messner, Italian mountaineer * September 18 ** Rocío Jurado, Spanish singer and actress ** Satan's Angel, American exotic dancer * September 19 – Ismet Özel, Turkish poet * September 21 – Hamilton Jordan, Jimmy Carter's first White House Chief of Staff (d. 2008) * September 22 – Frazer Hines, British actor * September 25 – Michael Douglas, American actor * September 26 ** Veronica Carlson, English actress and model ** Anne Robinson, British television host * September 30 – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (d. 2006) October * October 4 – Tony La Russa, American baseball player and manager * October 6 – Mylon LeFevre, American singer and evangelist * October 9 ** John Entwistle, English musician (The Who) (d. 2002) ** Nona Hendryx, singer (Labelle) ** Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1987) * October 15 ** David Trimble, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize ** Şerif Gören, Turkish film director * October 20 – Clive Hornby, English actor (Emmerdale's Jack Sugden 1980-2008) (d. 2008) * October 24 – Ray Downs, American author and country music musician * October 28 – Dennis Franz, American actor November * November 1 ** Oscar Temaru, President of French Polynesia ** Bobby Heenan, American professional wrestling manager and commentator * November 6 – Wild Man Fischer, Outsider musician * November 7 – Joe Niekro, American baseball player (d. 2006) * November 10 ** Silvestre Reyes, American politician ** Askar Akayevich Akayev, former President of Kyrgyzstan * November 11 – Kemal Sunal, Turkish comedian * November 12 ** Booker T. Jones, American musician, singer and songwriter (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) ** Al Michaels, American sportscaster * November 17 ** Danny DeVito, American actor, film producer & director ** Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect ** Lorne Michaels, Canadian television and film producer ** Tom Seaver, American baseball player * November 18 – Wolfgang Joop, German artist, fashion designer and art collector * November 21 – Richard Durbin, American politician * November 24 – Ibrahim Gambari, Nigerian scholar and diplomat * November 25 – Ben Stein, American law professor, actor and author * November 30 – George Graham, Scottish football player and manager December * December 2 ** Cathy Lee Crosby, American actress (That's Incredible!) ** Ibrahim Rugova, first President of Kosovo (d. 2006) * December 5 – Jeroen Krabbe, Dutch actor and film director * December 6 ** Jonathan King, British music producer ** Ron Kenoly, American Christian worship leader * December 7 ** Daniel Chorzempa, American organist ** Georges Coste, French Rugby player and coach * December 9 ** Tadashi Irie, Japanese yakuza boss ** Ki Longfellow, American novelist * December 11 ** Brenda Lee, American singer ** Lynda Day George, American actress ** Teri Garr, American actress and comedienne * December 12 – Kenneth Cranham, Scottish born actor * December 17 – Bernard Hill, English actor * December 19 – Tim Reid, American actor and comedian * December 21 ** Zheng Xiaoyu, Chinese bureaucrat (d. 2007) ** Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor ** Bill Atkinson, English footballer * December 22 – Steve Carlton, American baseball player * December 23 ** Wesley Clark, U.S. general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander ** Ingar Knudtsen, Norwegian writer * December 24 – Erhard Keller, German speed skater * December 25 – Jairzinho, Brazilian football player * December 26 ** Eli Cohen, Israeli spy ** Aleksey Mikhalyov, Russian translator * December 28 – Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate * December 30 – Joseph Hilbe, American statistician and author * December 31 – Jan Widströmer, Swedish artist Date unknown *Ramon Torrents, Spanish artist Deaths January–March * January 1 ** Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862) ** Edwin Lutyens, British architect (b. 1869) * January 5 – Kaj Munk, Danish playwright, priest and martyr (b. 1898) (executed) * January 6 – Ida Tarbell, American journalist (b. 1857) * January 7 – Lou Henry Hoover, Wife of President Herbert Hoover (b. 1874) * January 10 – William Emerson Ritter, American biologist (b. 1856) * January 11 ** Charles King, American actor (b. 1889) ** Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (b. 1903) * January 20 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b. 1860) * January 23 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863) * January 31 ** Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882) ** William Allen White, American journalist (b. 1868) * February 1 – Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872) * February 4 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867) * February 11 – Carl Meinhof, German linguist (b. 1857) * February 12 ** Margaret Woodrow Wilson, American singer and Presidential daughter (b. 1886) ** Kenneth Gandar-Dower, English sportsman, aviator, explorer and author (b. 1908) * February 13 – Edgar Selwyn, American screenwriter (b. 1875) * February 16 – Henri Nathansen, Danish writer and stage director (b. 1868) * February 21 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873) * February 29 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish politician (b. 1861) * March 4 – Louis Buchalter, Jewish-American mobster, head of Murder, Inc. (b. 1897) * March 5 – Max Jacob, French poet (b. 1876) * March 11 – Irvin S. Cobb, American writer (b. 1876) * March 22 – Pierre Brossolette, journalist and French Resistance fighter (b. 1903) * March 23 – Myron Selznick, American film producer (b. 1898) * March 24 – Orde Wingate, British soldier (b. 1903) * March 31 – Mineichi Koga, Japanese admiral (b. 1885) April–June * April 9 – Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet WWII heroine (b. 1920) * April 17 – J.T. Hearne, English cricketer (b. 1867) * April 21 – Hans-Valentin Hube, German army general (b. 1890) * April 25 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (b. 1880) * April 28 ** Frank Knox, American Secretary of the Navy during WWII (b. 1874) ** Paul Poiret, French couturier (b. 1879) * April 29 ** Billy Bitzer, American cinematographer (b. 1874) ** Bernardino Machado, President of Portugal (b. 1851) * May 7 – William Ledyard Rodgers, American admiral and military and naval historian (b. 1860) * May 12 ** Max Brand, American author (b. 1892) ** Q, British writer (b. 1863) ** Harold Lowe, British sailor, fifth officer of the RMS''Titanic'' (b. 1882) * May 16 – George Ade, American author (b. 1866) * May 20 ** Fraser Barron, New Zealand bomber pilot during WWII (b. 1921) ** Vincent Rose, American musician and band leader (b. 1880) * May 24 ** Inigo Campioni, Italian admiral (executed) (b. 1878) ** Matsuji Ijuin, Japanese admiral (b. 1893) ** Harold Bell Wright, American writer (b. 1872) * May 25 – Clark Daniel Stearns, 9th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1870) * May 30 – Jessie Ralph, American actress (b. 1864) * June – Joseph Campbell, Northern Irish poet and lyricist (b. 1879) * June 27 – Milan Hodža, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (b. 1878) July–September * July 1 – Carl Mayer, Austrian screenwriter (b. 1894) * July 6 ** Andrée Borrel, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1919) ** Vera Leigh, English World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1903) ** Chūichi Nagumo, Japanese admiral (b. 1887) ** Sonia Olschanezky, German World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1923) ** Diana Rowden, English World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1915) * July 7 – Georges Mandel, French politician and WWII hero (executed) (b. 1885) * July 8 ** George B. Seitz, American director (b. 1888) ** Takeo Takagi, Japanese admiral (b. 1892) * July 12 – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., American political and business leader (b. 1887) * July 14 – Asmahan a Syrian-born Egyptian singer (b.1918?). * July 18 – Rex Whistler, English artist (b. 1905) * July 20 – Mildred Harris, American actress (b. 1901) * July 21 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German military and resistance fighter (b. 1907) * July 25 ** Lesley J. McNair, American general (b. 1883) ** Jakob von Uexküll, Baltic German biologist (b. 1864) * July 26 – Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (b. 1877) * July 30 – Lee Powell, American actor (b. 1908) * July 31 – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900) * August 1 – Manuel L. Quezon, Philippine president (b. 1878) * August 2 – Kakuji Kakuta, Japanese admiral (b. 1890) * August 4 – Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Polish poet (Warsaw Uprising) (b. 1921) * August 12 ** Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., American fighter pilot, oldest son of Joseph P. Kennedy (b. 1915) ** Suzanne Spaak, Belgian World War II heroine (executed) * August 17 – Günther von Kluge, German field marshal (b. 1882) * August 19 – Henry Wood, British conductor (b. 1869) * August 23 – Abdul Mejid II, Caliph of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1868) * August 26 ** Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat (executed) (b. 1909) ** Hans Leesment, Estonian general (b. 1873) * August 27 – Princess Mafalda of Savoy (executed) (b. 1902) * September 6 ** Gustave Biéler, Swiss WWII hero (executed) (b. 1904) ** Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, Polish Catholic priest, executed during the Warsaw Uprising (b. 1897) * September 9 – Robert Benoist, French race car driver and war hero (executed) (b. 1895) * September 11 ** Yolande Beekman, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1911) ** Madeleine Damerment, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1917) ** Noor Inayat Khan, Indian princess and WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1914) * September 13 – Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator (b. 1872) * September 14 ** John Kenneth Macalister, Canadian WWII hero (executed) (b. 1914) ** Frank Pickersgill, Canadian WWII hero (executed) (b. 1915) ** Roméo Sabourin, Canadian WWII hero (executed) (b. 1923) * September 16 – Gustav Bauer, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1870) * September 25 – Eugeniusz Lokajski, Polish athlete, gymnast and photographer (Warsaw Uprising) (b. 1909) * September 27 – Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter (b. 1861) October–December * October 4 – Al Smith, American politician (b. 1873) * October 8 – Wendell Willkie, American politician (b. 1892) * October 14 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (b. 1891) * October 21 – Alois Kayser, German missionary (b. 1877) * October 22 – Richard Bennett, American actor (b. 1870) * October 23 – Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877) * October 24 – Shōji Nishimura, Japanese vice admiral (b. 1889) * October 26 ** HRH The Princess Beatrice, youngest and last living child of Queen Victoria (b. 1857) ** Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese fighter ace (b. 1920) ** William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1881) * November 2 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and inventor (b. 1889) * November 5 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873) * November 7 – Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1921) * November 10 – Wang Jingwei, Nanjing Nationalist regime in northern China (died of pneumonia) (b. 1883) * November 12 – George F. Houston, American actor (b. 1896) * December 2 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b. 1874) * December 4 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player (b. 1879) * December 9 – Laird Cregar, American actor (b. 1916) * December 13 ** Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born artist (b. 1866) ** Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (b. 1908) * December 15 – Glenn Miller, American band leader (b. 1904) * December 22 – Harry Langdon, American comedian (b. 1884) * December 30 – Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866) * December 31 – Vicente Lim, Filipino general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (b. 1889) Date unknown * Gerald Haxton, secretary and lover of novelist and playwright W. Somerset Maugham (b. 1892) Nobel Prizes * Physics – Isidor Isaac Rabi * Chemistry – Otto Hahn * Medicine – Joseph Erlanger, Herbert Spencer Gasser * Literature – Johannes Vilhelm Jensen * Peace – International Committee of the Red Cross References Category:1944